In recent years, add-on processing units, such as general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU or GP2U), have become popular. In a GPGPU unit, a graphics processing unit (GPU), which typically handles computation only for computer graphics, is configured to perform computation in applications traditionally handled by the central processing unit (CPU). In operation, a GPGPU unit analyzes data from the CPU as if it were in image or other graphic form. Further, although GPUs operate at lower frequencies than CPUs, they typically have many times the number of cores. Thus, GPUs can operate on pictures and graphical data at far faster rates than traditional CPUs. Consequently, migrating data into graphical form, and then using the GPU to scan and analyze it, can result in significant improvements in computation time.
More recently, GPGPU units have been investigated for improve throughput in communications applications. For example, a GPGPU unit can be configured to perform communications and signal processing functions at a much higher throughput or data rate that a traditional CPU. Thus, a GPGPU unit can significantly improve throughput in many types of transceiver systems.
However, while a GPGPU unit may offer computational advantages, implementing a communications GPGPU unit is far from trivial. For one, traditional GPGPU unit design does not typically include input/output (I/O) ports that would be necessary for a communications-based GPGPU unit to operate efficiently. Second, the high performance of GPGPU unit comes at a high thermal cost, resulting in most GPGPU units running at relatively high temperatures (typically 80° C.-85° C. As a result, these high temperatures do not provide an adequate environment for communication of certain types of signals (e.g., optical signals). Finally, GPGPU unit designs incorporating I/O ports typically require specialized connection and mounting schemes, thereby providing limited backward compatibility with older chassis support traditional form factor designs for add-on cards.
Therefore, there is a need for add-on processing unit designs, including I/O connectors that consider thermal issues and backward compatibility issues.